Wisconsin, Marquette thriving as homebodies

Wisconsin coach Bo Ryan recruits his home state like it's a Sunday buffet. He fills up on homegrown forwards and centers and guards -- oh my -- and then does it again as soon as he can.

Down the road, Marquette's Tom Crean recruits his home state more like a dessert tray. He selects a delicacy from over here, a delicacy from over there, and so on.

All-American candidate Travis Diener is from Fond du Lac, Wis. (Getty Images)

They don't do it in precisely the same way, but together the Badgers and Golden Eagles own Wisconsin like no two basketball programs own any one state -- and the result has been more than a surge of state pride.

Try the surge of two basketball programs.

Under Ryan, Wisconsin has become a Big Ten powerhouse. Under Crean, Marquette has gone to the 2003 Final Four and earned a spot in next year's expanded Big East.

When they play Saturday night at the Bradley Center in Milwaukee, Marquette and Wisconsin will display the best the state has to offer. And it offers plenty.

"This state is strong, and I think I can speak on behalf of all four Division I programs in the state (along with Wisconsin-Green Bay and Wisconsin-Milwaukee ) that we want to keep homegrown players at home," Crean says. "There's been some excellent players to come through the state in my six years at Marquette."

Most have signed with Marquette or Wisconsin. Since 2000, the state has produced 11 players ranked among the country's Top 100 high school seniors in their class, as ranked by the Hoop Scoop.

All 11 signed with Wisconsin or Marquette, including both of the state's top 100 players from the class of 2005: Marquette signee Wes Mathews Jr. of Madison, the son of an ex-Badgers great; and Wisconsin signee Marcus Landry of Milwaukee, whose brother, Carl, plays for Purdue.

Those 11 don't include the best of the best, Wauwatosa's Devin Harris, an underrated guard in 2001 who became an All-American and NBA lottery pick for Wisconsin.

Ryan and Crean credit the caliber of coaching at the high school and AAU level. Ryan, who has been coaching on the college level in Wisconsin since 1976, says it's come a long way.

"The high school coaches are doing the job," Ryan says. "They're putting more time into clinics -- there's a lot more clinics in Wisconsin than there used to be -- and more and more they're coaching just basketball. Thirty years ago, a lot of the coaches were doing a couple sports. In the past 25 years, 20 years, they're just concentrating on basketball. And also the AAU programs have improved so much. So you get better players."

Saturday, Wisconsin will lean on forward Mike Wilkinson (from Blue Mounds, Wis.), point guard Sharif Chambliss (a Penn State transfer from Racine) and center Brian Butch (Appleton). Marquette will counter with All-American point guard candidate Travis Diener (Fond du Lac) and forward Steve Novak (Brown Deer).

Diener and Novak are Marquette's only two regulars from Wisconsin. Crean also is a formidable recruiter in the Chicago area, where his recruits include former All-American Dwyane Wade and current players Ousmane Barro, Todd Townsend and Joe Chapman.

With Marquette going to the Big East next season, Crean expects his recruiting base to grow -- but not at the expense of the talent in his backyard.

"As we go to the Big East we feel we can recruit a lot of places, but we'll want to stay strong in-state," Crean says. "No question, we want to be an inside-out school when it comes to recruiting."

Ryan also dabbles in the Midwest -- getting Alando Tucker from Illinois and Zach Morley from Missouri -- but based on his 10 players from Wisconsin, he seems to have even more of an inside-inside recruiting philosophy. It worked at UW-Platteville, where he won three Division III national championships from 1985-99. Why not UW-Madison?

"Ninety-something percent of the players who helped us win three titles there were Wisconsin kids," Ryan says. "Whether it's (UW) Platteville, Milwaukee or Madison, the state connects with them, and it makes it easier to keep their focus during the year and develop them as players. They seem to have more support when things are tough."

You want tough? Try recruiting against Marquette and Wisconsin within the state borders. North Carolina, to name one school, couldn't keep Butch from the Badgers or Novak from Marquette.

Now Kansas, Wake Forest and Michigan State are trying to intrude. All three are involved with the state's top-rated high school junior, 6-2 guard Jerry Smith of Wauwatosa -- who has been offered scholarships by Wisconsin and Marquette.

Elsewhere in the Class of 2006, Wisconsin has a commitment from center J.P. Gavinski of Wisconsin Dells, while Marquette has a commitment from wing Anthony Green of Beloit. Marquette also has offered center Mitchell Carter of Milwaukee, while Wisconsin has offered point guard Trevon Hughes of Delafield.

The Class of 2007? Don't bother, outsiders. Marquette and Wisconsin are all over the state's best two sophomores, 6-8 Keaton Nankivil of Madison and 6-1 Scott Christopherson, a Diener-like guard from Melrose. Marquette has offered both -- recruiting insiders say Crean watched both play in person last week -- while Wisconsin offered Nankivil when he was a freshman and is monitoring Christopherson closely.

In recruiting circles, protecting your home turf is referred to as "building a fence." Crean and Ryan have built a fence around Wisconsin -- and lined it with barbed wire.

Schools on the other side of the border? Enter at your own risk.